When the member of a family dies, more than one person mourns his or her passing. If the deceased man or woman experienced a fatal injury, due to someone else’s negligence, multiple family members would welcome the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit. Yet only a spouse, child or parent can legally proceed to file such a lawsuit.
Moreover, an entire family does not receive any money that might be awarded by the court. Only the person that submitted the request for the court proceedings has the right to claim that award. Of course, that same person can share it with other family members. Would such an award be substantial? Could such an award be so large that it would seem selfish for the person that received it not to share it? What damages get compensated, if a court rules in favor of someone that has filed a wrongful death lawsuit?
Damages experienced by the deceased that get compensated
Typically, the person that has suffered a wrongful death suffers a severe injury, one that taxes his or her body to the point where it can no longer function. Consequently, that injured and dying victim often spends time in the hospital. The hospital expenses must be covered by the awarded funds.
During the victim’s struggle to survive, various medications might be administered by members of the hospital’s staff. Tests might be conducted. Other recuperative measures might be tried. Each of those costs money and those same costs get considered during an accounting of the damages. Obviously, anyone that must struggle to survive has to endure a great deal of pain and suffering. Those are not medical damages, but the court feels obliged to award money as compensation for pain and suffering.
Naturally, the victim cannot be going to his or her job, while in the hospital. That means that the same victim will suffer a loss of wages. Those damages get added to the cost of the funeral and burial service.
Compensation that covers damages to the deceased’s next of kin
Had the deceased lived, he or she could have earned more money, before retiring. A court-appointed account determines the amount of money that the deceased could have earned, if he or she had not suffered a premature death. The amount calculated becomes a part of the compensation package.
In some cases, the appropriate family members can receive money as compensation for a loss of consortium, with the help of an injury lawyer in Georgetown. In addition, some cases have circumstances that allow a family member to seek punitive damages. The awarding of such damages recognizes the malicious nature of the act that ended the life of someone that had earned the love of his or her family members.